Need Help?

Want to Know if You are Eligible for Combat Related Special Compensation?

The Army has a web site with all the facts and an 800 number if you have a question. Just click here to go to http://www.crsc.army.mil/.

Looking For Answers to Your VA Questions?

Call the Sarasota County Veterans Service Office at (941) 861-2899 or visit them at the Sarasota County Health Department, 2200 Ringling Boulevard, Sarasota, FL. This building is on the corner of Ringling Boulevard and School in downtown Sarasota.

Jerry Derrick and his team of experts provide answers to your veteran related questions, help obtaining veterans benefits, referrals to other organizations that can help you and provide help to veterans, their families and surviving spouses.

If you do not have access to a computer just call the Sarasota County Veterans Service Office at (941) 861-2899 and they will mail you the appropriate forms to submit.

Getting Help From Veterans Organizations

There are over fifty veteran and patriotic organizations in Sarasota County. Many of these organizations have volunteer veteran service officers who are trained to help you. Take the time to find the organization closest to you and stop by and visit them. Most of our member organizations can be found by looking in your local telephone directory. Find out if they have a volunteer veterans service officer, what programs they have to help you, and when they meet. These organizations are there to help local veterans and their members.

If you are eligible to join then please do and add your voice to that of the over 396,000 veterans who live within a seventy-five mile radius of Sarasota County, FL.

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Notable Quotes

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” - G. K. Chesterton

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." - John Stuart Mill

Welcome

Thank you for visiting the Sarasota County Veterans Commission Blog! We support the Active, Guard, and Reserve military forces protecting this great Nation, our veterans, their families and orphaned children.

The Commission represents over fifty veterans, military and patriotic associations and their auxiliaries in Sarasota County, Florida.

About Me

Richard holds a Doctorate of Education, a Master’s Degree in Management Information Systems, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts. Rich is a 23-year Army veteran who retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1990. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his years of service. Additionally, he was awarded the Bronze Star for Heroism in ground combat, Presidential Unit Citation, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry while serving with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. He is a graduate of the Field Artillery Officers Basic and Advanced Courses, and U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Richard was the Founder/CEO of Sarasota Online, a high technology company that was sold to Comcast Cable in 1996. Richard twice chaired the Sarasota Better Business Council and sat on the Board of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.
He currently serves on the Board of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and on an advisory committee to the Sarasota County School Board. He is President of the Sarasota County Veterans Commission, and has been appointed as Chairman of the Sarasota National Cemetery Advisory Committee by Congressman Vern Buchanan.